Basque Country progressive heavy rockers The Soulbreaker Company release their sixth LP, Sewed with Light, Nov. 30 on Underground Legends Records. It is their first outing through the label after serving as a longtime staple act for Alone Records, but regardless of who’s putting it out, the band’s sound remains unmistakably their own. In their more than 13 years together, the band has been through a number of lineup changes and have undertaken a persistent sonic evolution, and as the latest manifestation of that, the 11-track/48-minute Sewed with Light brings an overarching pastoral feel to still-weighted grooves and tones. With vocalist Jony Moreno out front surrounded by his fellow founders in guitarists Asier Fernandez (also vocals) and Dani Triñanes, melody runs central throughout the proceedings while Javi Free makes an impression on synth in “Together” and piano in “You Guess but You Don’t Understand,” and the drums of Andoni Ortiz and bass of Illan Arribas tie together a vision of progressive heavy informed by the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin that nonetheless seeks to repeat the work of neither of them. Beginning with its longest track (immediate points) in the seven-minute “Inner Dark,” Sewed with Light offers a balance between a rich, textured sound and a graceful live execution that’s emblematic of their sonic maturity but still exciting to hear.

Acoustics, fuzzed electrics, a variety of keys and malleable vocals all come together to create the tapestry evoked in the material, which is peaceful even at its heaviest moments and has precious little time for needless aggression. Even as “The Word, the Blade” picks up into its chorus, the feel remains easy and accessible, and as they cap with the electronics-and-drone piece “In the Beginning,” the vibe remains more experimentalist than angry. Though it’s relatively short at 2:57, “Arrhythmia” represents Sewed with Light well. Preceded by the keyboard/Mellotron-laced “Avoid the Crash,” it’s more uptempo than some of what surrounds, but set as the penultimate inclusion on the tracklist, it’s obviously meant as a last-minute kick to get listeners on board for the far-out closer that follows. Like the best of the classics from which they take influence, The Soulbreaker Company are able to distill a grand or epic feel down into a song that’s tight in its structure and doesn’t need to hit the 10-minute mark to make its impression emotionally. Centerpiece “Persephone” brings together Free‘s spacey synth and the lead guitars in a one-into-the-next trade of solos and still has room in its five minutes for a memorable hook and an engaging melody. With the early prog-out of the quick “I am the Void” and the breadth of the subsequent “The End of the Day” and “Together,” there’s much for listeners to dig into, but whether one sits and parses through every move, shift in tone and groove, every part change and chorus, or if one simply goes along for the ride, The Soulbreaker Company offer an enticing invite to take its component songs on and live with them for a while. Some records you hear and that’s it. Sewed with Light feels more like a multi-sensory experience.

I’m thrilled today to host the premiere of the video for “Arrhythmia” with my thanks to Underground Legendsfor letting me do so. You’ll find it on the player below, followed by some info and links as always.

Please enjoy:

The Soulbreaker Company, “Arrhythmia” official video premiere

THE SOULBREAKER COMPANY’s official video for Arrhythmia from the album “Sewed With Light” available on November 30th.

The Obelisk will sponsor the inaugural European tour of newcomer progressive psychedelic rockers Entropía, who head out supporting their debut album, Invisible. You’ll find the self-released full-length streaming in its entirety below courtesy of the band’s Bandcamp page, and with a piano-heavy style in flowing tracks like “Prisionera de la Expresión” and “Invisible,” they want nothing for class or soul or a sense of mastery for it being their first record. In instrumental sections as well as their verses and choruses, frontman/keyboardist Jon Bellido helps provide a foundation for the material on which guitarist Roberto Nieves, bassist Lasto and drummer Andoni Penela build outward. Invisible works in varied passages to evoke a diverse sense of mood and an engaging scope that’s both immersive and demanding attentive interaction. It’s not an album to get lost in so much as converse with, and that conversation only offers more reward with each return.

Entropía — who also stylize their moniker all-lowercase: entriopía — have played local shows in Spain and their native Basque Country and are looking to head out on their first round of tour dates between Sept. 20-30. They have shows booked for the first three nights but are still working to fill out the rest of the tour. If you can help out, help out. Wombat Booking is handling the reservations, and you can see what’s already confirmed below. Very happy to be involved in getting this one out there. Make sure you dig into the record as well.

Have at it:

We are happy to announce that the Psychedelic Progressive band from Vitoria – Basque Country (North Spain) – ENTROPIA will embark on this Rock adventure around Europe presenting their latest effort “Invisible”.

Entropía is a Spanish band from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, formed at the end of summer 2014. Their music has its roots in alternative rock with clear psychedelia and space rock influences. The band is formed by four young musicians: Jon Bellido (keyboards and vocals), Roberto Nieves (lead guitar), Lasto (bass) and Andoni Penela (drums). Up until now, they’ve given more than thirty concerts, most of them in local bars, but also in Madrid, as well as in Sopelana, Portugalete, Aramaio, Bilbao, Pamplona or Logroño, and at the Mendialdea Music Festival (MMF) in Maeztu. They’re winners of Gazte Talent 2016, and they were also awarded ‘Best Demo’ by the University of La Rioja in 2017, going on to represent this university in the 2018 edition of the national competition ‘G9’.

They’ve recorded their first self-financed long-playing album (LP) named Invisible, which was released in February 22, 2018. They don’t belong to any record label, but for the edition of this album they’re working with the alternative labels Cosmic Tentacles of Vitoria-Gasteiz and Nooirax of Madrid. They’ve also shared the stage with other bands with a similar musical style, such as Astrodome, The Soulbreaker Company, Arenna, Wicked Wizzard, the Bostonians Dyr Faser and the Australians James McCann & The New Vindictives.

Though on the surface its core of warm-toned heavy psychedelia seems straightforward enough, I’ve yet to listen to Given to Emptiness, the second full-length through Nasoni Records from Basque five-piece Arenna, and not hear something new within its span. And it usually doesn’t take all that long, either. The album, which follows their 2011 debut, Beats of Olarizu (review here), is constructed around rich tones and varied arrangements, still jamming and exploratory in the post-Colour Haze tradition, but prone to heavier excursions like that which emerges on “Move through Figurehead Lights,” its impact made all the more forceful by a stretch of acoustic guitar proceeding. As with the first record, the fivesome of bassist Javi, drummer Guille, guitarists Kike (a regional nickname, pronounced like “Quique,” short for Enrique; also acoustics and Tibetan bowls on closer “Low Tide”) and R. Ruiz del Portal (also mellotron on “Visions of Rex”), and vocalist Txus Dr. Sax — who most often backs himself but is joined periodically by Poti (also of Atavismo, formerly Viaje a 800) and Jony Moreno (also of Soulbreaker Company) in the chorus, Poti also handling Mellotron throughout the album and theremin on “Move through Figurehead Lights” — revel in a laid back atmosphere while conjuring fluid expanses of heavy psych, but where Beats of Olarizu topped 68 minutes, Given to Emptiness pares down to an efficient single LP just over 47, its seven tracks cleanly split between two sides, each demarcated by its longest component piece, the longest of which, “Butes,” opens the outing at 10:20.

Immediate points for that, and make it double since they open both sides with the longest track, “Chroma” answering from side B with a nine-minute rollout. “Butes” makes a gorgeous wash to start off Given to Emptiness, gradually unfolding to work in direct contrast to the title of the album, its turns leading it along a building path but showcasing a patience that will come to typify a lot of what they do throughout. Setting the tone, as it were. They do so with liquefied grooves and guitar interplay, soulful vocals from Txus Dr. Sax and a steady nod that holds sway for the duration. This lushness continues into the building “Visions of Rex,” the swirl of which is always present but never overdone, and forward through “Drums for Sitting Bull” (streamed here), which recalls some of the more straightforward moments of the debut but blends them smoothly with the sprawling vibes elicited already throughout the first two cuts. “Drums for Sitting Bull” marks an appearance from both Poti and Moreno on backing vocals, and they’re put to more than solid use, though it’s ultimately Dr. Sax himself who carries the apex of the song over with a sort of wavering, watery presence in his voice. Whether that’s an effect or not, I don’t know, but it’s striking either way, and Arenna roll their way through the end of the track afterwards — Javi‘s bass is a must-hear for appreciators of low end — with the drums dropping out and kicking back in to push the final groove to its eventual crash and ring out, feedback fading to close side A. Already the atmosphere is set for languid, jam-based vibing, but the band’s penchant for deeper arrangements with the touches of Mellotron, additional vocals, acoustics and even just swapping out one effect for another showcase a sense of wanting each track to add something to the larger whole of the effort, and that proves no less true of the four tracks included on side B.

In the spirit of “Butes,” “Chroma” takes its time in shifting from its dreamy opening of guitar, cymbal washes and airy swirls to move into its Mellotron-topped breadth, but unlike the album-opener, the side B launch is instrumental save for a late-arriving sample to mark the landing of the progression’s peak. “Chroma” turns and shifts and undulates naturally, a fuzz-caked nod that many among the converted wouldn’t even try to resist let alone have the ability to do so, but gives way to “Move through Figurehead Lights” — a no less otherworldly opening, even if it’s the drums this time leading the charge — without pretense, that track’s subtle volume swells and quiet vibing met just before the two-minute mark by acoustic guitar (courtesy of a guest spot by Manix S.) and vocals that come to drive the build as much as serve as part of it. It’s the voices of Dr. Sax, Poti and Moreno, in a non-lyricized “ohh” chorus near the end that almost become a riff of their own working in conjunction with the bass and drums along with the solo, and they carry through an almost spiritual celebration, which can’t help but add gravity to “The Pursuer,” which follows. A bit of symmetry with “Drums for Sitting Bull” in terms of structure, maybe, but “The Pursuer” has its own personality to be sure, in open verses and alternating echoes of guitar that, with the vocals, shift in the second half of the song to the album’s most purposefully pretty melody, giving way near the end as Arenna come as close as they have to any sort of aggression in progressive start-stop riffing to close out. With the epilogue, 1:41 “Low Tide” at the finish with its quiet acoustics for a last moment of contemplation, Given to Emptiness ends with something of a lonely mood, but even there I’m fairly certain there are (at least) two layers of guitar working at the same time, so even in its most minimal stretch, it remains far from empty. Somewhat understated in this review up to this point is the emotional resonance of the vocals, which are a driving force in engrossing and holding the listener’s attention throughout, but they’re far from the only aspect of Arenna‘s sound working in their favor. Their sophomore album also marks a decade of their tenure, and one can hear their experience and their chemistry in each track as Given to Emptiness unfolds, its patience never meandering so far from the overarching sense of a design at work that it’s unable to return.

Spanish heavy psych rockers Arenna will release their second album, Given to Emptiness, on May 7. It’s been four years since the five-piece made their debut on Nasoni Records with the full-length Beats of Olarizu (review here) and today I have the privilege of unveiling track three from Given to Emptiness, “Drums for Sitting Bull.” Duly percussive, but no less centered around its heavy groove and warm, fuzzed-out tones, the song finds the melody front and center in contemplative style somewhat similar to the debut, but understandably developed in the four-year interim between releases.

Immediately laid back and catchy, a tell early on is the vocals following the lead guitar. That will come up again later in the song, before a late break cuts short to resume the roll of the central riff, added to by Mellotron (provided by Poti, who presumably is the same Poti from Atavismo, formerly of Viaje a 800), ending out the instrumental push with a quiet sort of apex. For Arenna — guitarists R. Ruiz de Portal and Kike (which I’m not even comfortable typing, but is apparently how he wants to be known), bassist Javi, vocalist Txus Dr. Sax and drummer Guille — it’s a steady flow that reinforces something the first album did well but also shows them trying new things with their sound. Hopefully that’s indicative of what the rest of Given to Emptiness has to offer.

Recording info for Arenna‘s Given toEmptiness and the lyrics in Spanish and English follow “Drums for Sitting Bull,” which you can find on the player below. Please enjoy:

Recorded by Javier Ortiz at Estudio Brazil (Nov. 1-7, 2014) Mixed by José López Gil at Sound Experience Studio & Estudios K. Mastered by JJ. Golden Produced by José López Gil and Arenna Music by Arenna Artwork by Khoa Le Designed by Artidoto

3. Drums for Sitting Bull If one were only an indian, Alert, on a racing horse, Leaning against the wind, Until one shed one’s spurs, & threw away the reins. Hardly saw land before one, When horse’s neck & head Would be already gone.

Whereas much of the movement in the last several years of heavy psychedelic rock has been toward the more freeform, jamming style of bands like Earthless and Naam, the Vitoria–Gasteiz collective The Soulbreaker Company from the north of Spain present an incredibly tight-wound vision of what space-leaning psych can be on their second Alone Records full-length, Itaca. The six-piece (plus guests) band run through a wide array of sonic motifs, from the jazzy synth-prog of opener “It’s Dirt,” to the Doors-y feel of the ending movement of “Sandstorm,” always maintaining control, always sounding full. Never a hair out of place, so to speak. It’s an accomplishment mostly in the complexity of the song arrangements – I know of plenty two-piece bands who can’t get to the point of togetherness The Soulbreaker Company have with up to eight or nine people on a single track.

Part of that credit has to go to Chris Fielding, who produced Itaca at Foel Studios in Wales (Obiat, Conan, Porcupine Tree) along with the band. The sounds here are crisp but not unnatural, and there’s a remarkable balance between the separation in the instruments and their meshing. The already-noted opener earns kudos not only for its creative breadth, but for being the longest cut on Itacaat 9:38 (I’m almost always a sucker for a band who opens with their longest song instead of tacking it at the end), and cuts like “Oh! Warsaw,” the catchy “Sow the Roses” and the later, piano- and horn-driven “Take a Seat on the Moon” only reinforce the album’s primary statement, that The Soulbreaker Company are a band for whom the limits are few and far between. They have the will (and the personnel) to take listeners on a genuine journey, and the more of Itaca I dig into, the farther-ranging I’m finding it to be. While the classic rock approach of vocalist/guitarist Jony Moreno (backed occasionally by Layla Seville and/or Joanne Deacon) does a lot of the tying together of the different-sounding tracks, there’s also a tonal consistency to the material on Itaca that serves to heighten the drama of the songs while it helps the flow one to the next. Fans of Hypnos 69 will swoon over the guitar work of Daniel Triñanes and Asier Fernandez on “Colours of the Fire” and the sax-playing of Kike Guzman (who might want to think about adopting a nom de guerre) on “It’s Dirt” and “No Way Back Home,” on which the Hammond of Oscar Gil also provides an album highlight.